I would describe it as Napoleon Dynamite meets Mister Rogers directed by Wes Anderson.
It’s a lovely show that got cancelled after 3 seasons, but the seasons they got were really special and worth watching. There’s a very subtle, sweet storyline throughout the story that isn’t immediately obvious if you just jump around via clips.
Wonderful, wonderful show. My introduction was Ambient Swim’s inclusion of “Joe Pera talks you to sleep.” Then when the recommendations showed me he had a series, I tried it and was hooked.
His character makes me cry good tears. I laugh so hard. When Lulu returned his greeting in the restaurant but tacked on that “Don’t come over here.” I was slain.
I still can’t tell if he’s waiting to “finish the DVD commentary” to break character, or if he’s actually like that.
I think he’s similar to his character, but he definitely leans into the schtick a bit. I love that the stakes are so low in the show, until they’re suddenly not (or seemingly not). He’s definitely a master of pacing. I’ve watched the whole series multiple times, by now. The little love story is also just lovely. I think one of the most-powerful moments was when Sarah briefly takes over talking to the camera later in the show.
It started creeping me out the more I thought about it being a character tbh. I know he’s probably playing up his real personality, I think it gets creepy when people are obviously genuinely reacting to his persona thinking it’s real. Just something uncanny about it that creeps me out.
Yet I love Nathan Fielder so I dunno.
I felt the same way, believe it or not. Having seen him recently on the Townsends channel, for example, it felt pretty natural: https://youtu.be/Eawb8V6f1IU?si=hzX_yregm_0wZgda